All-Star Small Gym To Large Gym

[BlockHead]

We went from smallish gym with 123 athletes to a large one with 700+is). At our old gym, CP was not a star and treated as such. She was pretty much ignored by the higher level staff and owners, despite being there 5-6 days a week and showing dedication and desire. We decided to make the drive to the bigger named gym figuring it could not get any worse. To my surprise, the family feeling there is amazing. ALL the coaches are involved with the lower levels (even the Worlds coaches). CP works with them every week.

Wow! That is a lot of athletes! How many practice floors does your gym have?

 

[gibsonbabyicon]

We're about going through the same thing. We're leaving our small gym (about 80 athletes)for a bigger gym (over 300?) So far we are taking stunt and tumble and it's been great, the coaches know my girls names and have made them feel very welcome. Waiting for tryouts in May, can't wait to see what's in store. Good luck to you guys!

 

[Stormy_Life]

I want to add one more thing to my previous post.

Looking back, I think "my" biggest challenge in switching gyms was finding a balance in expectations/fantasy vs. reality. CP was placed on a level one team (which is exactly where she belonged). The problem was that she was cheer smart since she had been doing cheer since kindergarten and so was I ;) About half of her team switched from other gyms, but the rest were true newbies to the sport. It didn't take the kids long to catch up with the basic skills, but it can take a while families to adapt to the demands of all star. To us, the gym was as a destination, but others signed up there just because it was literally down the street and they wanted to give cheer a try. I know I would get impatient especially seeing what some of the other teams were doing, but I eventually learned to trust the coach's lead and not stress/compare CP's team to others.

We had this exact experience switching from a very small gym to a mega gym. The absolute hardest part has been our misguided thinking that everyone at all levels went there to "be serious" (for lack of better phrasing) when in reality there are just as many who ended up there based on geography alone. It's easy to tell the difference now (I hear a lot of "I would never drive that far", etc.) but was a definite shock at first.
As far as most of the other comments, I find the owner to be easily accessible, but that may be unique to our gym. She also knows every athlete in her gym, which astounds me! It's the coaches that aren't as accessible to parents. I worked in my CP's old gym and, frankly, it is a good thing when coaches aren't chatting it up with parents nonstop (exception: private lessons, of course). There seems to be a lot less favoritism and what I call "roll casting" in the larger gym too. They don't decide you are a flyer/base/backspot when you walk in the door and cast you in that roll until the end of time. You may fly one season and base the next. Crossovers often fly on one team and base on another.
Overall, it was the best decision for us. I've watched a new, more confident athlete who speaks up for herself & her team emerge from a shy wallflower.

 

[123jump4!]

We had this exact experience switching from a very small gym to a mega gym. The absolute hardest part has been our misguided thinking that everyone at all levels went there to "be serious" (for lack of better phrasing) when in reality there are just as many who ended up there based on geography alone. It's easy to tell the difference now (I hear a lot of "I would never drive that far", etc.) but was a definite shock at first.
As far as most of the other comments, I find the owner to be easily accessible, but that may be unique to our gym. She also knows every athlete in her gym, which astounds me! It's the coaches that aren't as accessible to parents. I worked in my CP's old gym and, frankly, it is a good thing when coaches aren't chatting it up with parents nonstop (exception: private lessons, of course). There seems to be a lot less favoritism and what I call "roll casting" in the larger gym too. They don't decide you are a flyer/base/backspot when you walk in the door and cast you in that roll until the end of time. You may fly one season and base the next. Crossovers often fly on one team and base on another.
Overall, it was the best decision for us. I've watched a new, more confident athlete who speaks up for herself & her team emerge from a shy wallflower.

From our experience I would agree with less favoritism in a bigger gym and it's great. Or maybe my kid is the favorite now... :D

 

[Cheer Dad]

We're thinking of letting CP go to a larger gym near us for next season. The larger gym has a lot more teams and usually enough girls to field a pretty good size team (for all levels).

I'm just kind of scared about what it will be like going from such a small gym to a larger one.

Our current gym - we've been working with them for almost 5 years and we know the coaches pretty well. They typically have 3-4 full teams each season and everyone knows each other. Lots of crossovers so it feels more like a family.

Just curious about what to expect from a bigger gym.
Do the coaches still know everyone's name or is it just your team's coach?
Do the athletes still all get along pretty well?
Anyone's experiences moving from small to large would be great - pros/cons?

Thanks!

Curious what current and potential gyms registration numbers are, roughly.


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[Keep_Believing]

I have 2 girls with very different personalities. For that reason, my oldest CP is at a small gym and my youngest CP is at a large gym. From our experiences both gyms are very different, but also awesome. Feel free to PM me.

 

[Nikki Moore]

Curious what current and potential gyms registration numbers are, roughly.


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Current gym..all four teams together is about 60 but each team has between 3-6 crossovers so less than 60 actual kids. No idea about the larger gyms..

 

[Cheer Dad]

Current gym..all four teams together is about 60 but each team has between 3-6 crossovers so less than 60 actual kids. No idea about the larger gyms..

CP went from a small program, by usasf standards, to a fairly sizable one. I will echo what a lot of others have said. Size alone doesn't dictate if a program can have a family feel. That, I believe is something that starts right with the leadership of the gym. CP felt like part of an extended family at both big and small gyms because thats how the owners made the atmosphere and the coaches followed.


If you get the opportunity to talk to any parents of the prospective program I would ask them what they like AND dislike about the program.


**An apple a day keeps the doctor away**

 

[Amie815]

Access to the owners, might be the one part where we differ in the experience. At our old gym, communication with owners and coaches was not welcomed. Imagine my surprise when I received a phone call from the owner at the new gym from her personal cell within 30 minutes of my leaving a message.

Sounds exactly like our experience with leaving a small gym and going to a big gym. We have never felt more like a family. All the coaches and owners know my CP by name. The owners are amazing with an open door policy, completely transparent with costs up front, know our comp schedule in May. I could go on and on. Best decision we ever made was moving.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Something I remember reading about a big gym, like Rays or World Cup.

Whenever a kid gets a new skill, everyone stops and claps and the kid gets to ring a bell.

Whether it's a 2 to full or a BWO, everyone celebrates.

I can't for the life of me recall which program but I know it was a big one.

 

[renaa_rooo]

Something I remember reading about a big gym, like Rays or World Cup.

Whenever a kid gets a new skill, everyone stops and claps and the kid gets to ring a bell.

Whether it's a 2 to full or a BWO, everyone celebrates.

I can't for the life of me recall which program but I know it was a big one.

It's World Cup. That was from the Twinkles documentary

 

[BlockHead]

Something I remember reading about a big gym, like Rays or World Cup.

Whenever a kid gets a new skill, everyone stops and claps and the kid gets to ring a bell.

Whether it's a 2 to full or a BWO, everyone celebrates.

I can't for the life of me recall which program but I know it was a big one.

My CP's old gym used to do the same thing. At her new gym, they get their picture taken while holding a dry erase board that states the new skill they acquired. And then it is posted on facebook for all to see.

 

[Nikki Moore]

Our gym does the bell also..

 

[justpeachy]

In our experience, the (often loudly screamed) threat was that there's a line of kids ten miles long that can and will take your spot if you're not performing up to expectation. This can motivate some kids, I guess. It can also break them down and cause them self doubt. I'd rather not take my chances if I had it to do all over again.